IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz has publicly acknowledged that the IDF's active involvement in the expulsion from Gush Katif and the destruction of nine houses in Amona has led to much "bad feeling" among many of its best soldiers.
"There is much bad feeling in the air," he told the Knesset Committee of Inquiry into the Events at Amona this week, "mutual bad feeling. We have to find the way to deal with this. This is incumbent upon me and on the IDF."
Sternberg, who was relocated from Ganei Tal to Yad Binyamin, has long championed the idea that expulsion-opponents must show their disillusionment with the IDF by refusing to enlist or, at least, refusing to pursue leadership positions in the army.
A report in Haaretz newspaper quoted an unnamed senior IDF officer who said, "[Our] tensions today are not just with extremists, but from those who live in the veteran and central Yesha communities... This is not an issue that will be solved by itself. We must not wait."
The drop in motivation has not been noticed in the enlistment rates in the two enlistments since the expulsion. It is feared, however, that the resentment is lying dormant and will emerge in the near future - possibly in the enlistments of this spring and summer.
In response to the reports, Sternberg wrote today on the Katif.net site,
"True, this is not a knock-out victory, but it is the only thing that can cause the oligarchy up there to understand that if it continues to carry out crimes against the Jewish Nation, it simply won't have the slaves to perpetrate them..."
"Dan Halutz's fear is our most effective tool - a thousand times better than all the rallies put together.
"Note the headline [of the Haaretz article]: 'Concern in the IDF: The Split Caused by the Evacuation is Spilling Over into the Pool of Officers.' This is how they refer to the religious-Zionist camp, based on what senior IDF officers said. All those who advocate the 'influence from within' line should realize how we are perceived: a silent, passive pool - a storehouse that they come to once in a while, take a fistful of suckers, and then march them off with 'Left, right, forward [Kadima in Hebrew] march!'
"Our message is trickling down, and we must not give up! The youth is not confused, and knows the truth. Precisely because of our love for the IDF and our concern for its integrity, we must say again and again: Put off enlisting until the army becomes once again the Israel D-e-f-e-n-c-e Forces! Nothing less than that!...
Doesn't everyone realize why the army surrendered and decided, so magnanimously, to allow the youth from the Kfar Darom roof to enlist? Isn't it clear to all of you what is going on here?"
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a leader of the religious-Zionist camp, objects to Sternberg's approach. In response to a questioner who wrote him of his aversion to serving in the IDF because of its actions in Gush Katif, Rabbi Aviner wrote,
"You are not serving in the army because of those you call 'them,' but for the sake of the Nation of Israel. The Nation of Israel did nothing wrong; how is it at fault? Why should it lose a good soldier and officer, which it needs like air to breathe... The army is not the creation of the Prime Minister, but rather a holy commandment of the Master of the Universe, into which people have introduced faults."
"There is much bad feeling in the air," he told the Knesset Committee of Inquiry into the Events at Amona this week, "mutual bad feeling. We have to find the way to deal with this. This is incumbent upon me and on the IDF."
Sternberg, who was relocated from Ganei Tal to Yad Binyamin, has long championed the idea that expulsion-opponents must show their disillusionment with the IDF by refusing to enlist or, at least, refusing to pursue leadership positions in the army.
A report in Haaretz newspaper quoted an unnamed senior IDF officer who said, "[Our] tensions today are not just with extremists, but from those who live in the veteran and central Yesha communities... This is not an issue that will be solved by itself. We must not wait."
The drop in motivation has not been noticed in the enlistment rates in the two enlistments since the expulsion. It is feared, however, that the resentment is lying dormant and will emerge in the near future - possibly in the enlistments of this spring and summer.
In response to the reports, Sternberg wrote today on the Katif.net site,
"True, this is not a knock-out victory, but it is the only thing that can cause the oligarchy up there to understand that if it continues to carry out crimes against the Jewish Nation, it simply won't have the slaves to perpetrate them..."
"Dan Halutz's fear is our most effective tool - a thousand times better than all the rallies put together.
"Note the headline [of the Haaretz article]: 'Concern in the IDF: The Split Caused by the Evacuation is Spilling Over into the Pool of Officers.' This is how they refer to the religious-Zionist camp, based on what senior IDF officers said. All those who advocate the 'influence from within' line should realize how we are perceived: a silent, passive pool - a storehouse that they come to once in a while, take a fistful of suckers, and then march them off with 'Left, right, forward [Kadima in Hebrew] march!'
"Our message is trickling down, and we must not give up! The youth is not confused, and knows the truth. Precisely because of our love for the IDF and our concern for its integrity, we must say again and again: Put off enlisting until the army becomes once again the Israel D-e-f-e-n-c-e Forces! Nothing less than that!...
Doesn't everyone realize why the army surrendered and decided, so magnanimously, to allow the youth from the Kfar Darom roof to enlist? Isn't it clear to all of you what is going on here?"
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a leader of the religious-Zionist camp, objects to Sternberg's approach. In response to a questioner who wrote him of his aversion to serving in the IDF because of its actions in Gush Katif, Rabbi Aviner wrote,
"You are not serving in the army because of those you call 'them,' but for the sake of the Nation of Israel. The Nation of Israel did nothing wrong; how is it at fault? Why should it lose a good soldier and officer, which it needs like air to breathe... The army is not the creation of the Prime Minister, but rather a holy commandment of the Master of the Universe, into which people have introduced faults."